Great Crusade
during the Great Crusade]] leads the Space Marine Legions personally during the Great Crusade]] The Great Crusade was the period in the early history of the Imperium of Man, lasting from the late 30th into the early 31st Millennium (approximately a little over two centuries), when the Imperium was expanding as it sought to bring all of human-settled space back under the control of a single ruler, the Emperor of Mankind. The Great Crusade marked a brief era in human history of rebuilding, reunification and rapid technological advancement following the complete regression of Mankind into techno-barbarism during the 5,000 years of the Age of Strife. It was a time when the Emperor of Mankind still lived in the conventional sense and led his people in person, and is considered the Golden Age of the Imperium before the long, slow slide into cultural stagnation, political repression and increasing warfare that marked the ten millennia after the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy had ended. The Emperor of Mankind sought to unite all of humanity under one banner following the Long Night of the Age of Strife, and end inter-human conflict. Once united, the Emperor intended to begin the next stage of his great plan to ensure human domination of the Milky Way Galaxy, which he judged to be necessary if humanity was to survive the myriad and never ceasing threats to its existence embodied in Chaos, xenos and its own fragile human nature. To carry out the Great Crusade and reunite all the scattered colony worlds of Mankind beneath the single banner of the Imperium of Man, the Emperor created the Space Marine Legions of the Adeptus Astartes and the Imperial Army to bring the light of Imperial Truth and enforce Imperial Compliance with the new regime on every human world encountered. At its peak in the early 31st Millennium, some 203 standard years after it began, there were 4,287 primary Expedition Fleets engaged upon the business of enforcing Imperial Compliance and extending the Imperial aegis across the galaxy as well as 60,000+ secondary deployment groups involved in regulating Compliance or Imperial occupations. A further 372 Expedition Fleets were regrouping or refitting in the Sol System or other Imperial hub star systems or resupplying as they awaited new orders. Some 4.3 million Remembrancers, official Imperial artists and journalists, were sent out with these fleets in the final days of the Great Crusade to record for posterity in pictures, words and music all that the Imperial warriors of the Crusade were accomplishing in the name of Mankind. Finally, every Imperial Expedition Fleet carried with it a corps of Iterators, Imperial philosophers, rhetoricians and propagandists who sought to spread the Imperial Truth to every human world and convince their populations of the benefits to be had from Imperial rule. The Great Crusade was under the direct command of the Emperor of Mankind until the great victory won against a massive Ork WAAAGH! during the Ullanor Crusade. After the defeat of the Orks achieved a new high point for the Great Crusade, the Emperor retired to Terra to begin work on a secret project deep within the Imperial Palace to open the labyrinthine interdimensional Eldar Webway to humanity's use so that the Imperium could be tied together as never before. The Emperor named his favorite son Horus, the Primarch of the Luna Wolves Space Marine Legion, as the Imperial Warmaster and gave him full authority to direct the Great Crusade's progression as he saw fit, including the right to command all of his fellow brother Primarchs and their Legions of Astartes. The Emperor also established the Council of Terra and the Imperial bireuacracy, the forerunners of the later Senatorum Imperialis of the High Lords of Terra and the Adeptus Administratum, to begin shifting the Imperium from his personal rule to a government that more closely served the needs of the Imperium's common people. The Emperor's secrecy and willingness to hand power over to others produced enormous tensions with some of the Primarchs and ultimately became the weakness that the Ruinous Powers exploited to corrupt 9 Primarchs and their Space Marine Legions into the service of Chaos, unleashing the terrible civil war known as the Horus Heresy that ended the Great Crusade and the Golden Age of the Imperium. From that time to the present in th late 41st Millennium, the Imperium has known only stagnation, oppression, religious strife and endless war. History The End of the Age of Strife During the Age of Strife the Emperor, who had spent all the years of his immortal life since his birth in the 8th Millennium B.C. seeking to guide Mankind to a better destiny, was trapped on the techno-barbarian-ravaged Earth, due to the massive Warp Storms prevalent throughout the galaxy in the 5,000 standard years before the borth of the Chaos God Slaanesh once more made travel and Astropathic communication through the Warp possible. Not content to simply sit back while humanity suffered through the long years of Old Night, the Emperor of Mankind spent this time performing intensive biological research on the human genome in gene-laboratories hidden deep below the Himalayan Mountains, seeking a way that he could ultimately reunite all of humanity so that it could once more pursue its destiny of taking control over the Milky Way Galaxy as other intelligent species like the Eldar had already done. The Emperor, who did not bear that title at this early date, had always worked to advance his agenda from behind the scenes and a long list of different identities over the millennia, some of them very well-known. But to save Mankind from the disaster of the Age of Strife, it had become apparent that he would have to take a far more open political role than he had previously preferred if the human race was to be saved from ultimate extinction. The result of his scientific work was the creation of the first prototype supersoldiers who would serve as a template for the later development of the Space Marines. Using these first genetically-engineered supersoldiers, the Emperor unleashed the Unification Wars upon the techno-barbarian tribes and nation-states of Terra, forcing them to unite under a single government represented by a banner filled with thunder bolts with himself taking the title of the "Emperor of Mankind" after years of savage warfare. This event was later known in Imperial records as the Unification. After this, the Emperor realised that to reunite all of humanity, he would need generals in addition to himself whom he could trust absolutley and who possessed capabilities similar to his own. So he ordered the creation of 20 highly advanced, genetically-engineered super humans known as the Primarchs. These super humans, created using the Emperor's own genome as the foundations of their genetic code, were intended to be the next stage in human evolution and to lead the reunification of Mankind. The Ruinous Powers of Chaos, however, fearful of the effect the Emperor's plans would have upon their own power within the Immaterium, managed to bypass the arcane wards protecting the Emperor's secret gene-laboratory under the Himalayas, and teleport the unborn Primarchs, still in their gestation capsules, away from Terra, scattering them across myriad different human-settled worlds across the galaxy and laying the taint of Chaos secretly within the hearts of 9 of them. Facing this setback, the Emperor decided to change his tactics if not his ultimate goal of reunification. He gathered the remaining genetic material that had been used to create the Primarchs and from it cultured thousands of sets of gene-seed that could be gestated into individual sets of 19 separate organs that when implanted within the body of an adolescent human male would transform him into the superhuman warriors known as the Astartes in High Gothic, the first true Space Marines. The Emperor raised 20 Legions of Astartes, each making use of gene-seed organs cultured from the DNA of one of the Primarchs, from among the population of a newly unified Terra. After five millennia and the birth of Slaanesh following the events that led to the Fall of the Eldar, the massive Warp Storms finally dissipated across the galaxy. With their absence allowing interstellar travel once again, the Emperor moved forward with his plans to begin the conquest of the galaxy. Mars and the Adeptus Mechanicus The Emperor's first obstacle to the reunification of Mankind was the existence of the empire of the Tech-priests of the Cult Mechanicus on Mars, who had historically been fiercely independent of Earth. Instead of an outright war, the Emperor used the threat of an assault by his Space Marines on Mars in the 30th Millennium to form an alliance with the Tech-priests of what would later be called the Adeptus Mechanicus on the Red Planet, an alliance that would form the heart of the newborn Imperium of Man and would be symbolised by the adoption of the two headed-eagle or Aquila that is till the primary icon of the Imperium. Despite his disdain for their reliance on religion and cybernetic augmentation of their bodies, the Emperor knew that he would need Mars' great manufactorums (factories), mechanical output and ancient technological know-how to build themilitary force required to reunify humanity across the galaxy, and he incorporated them into the Imperium. The Tech-priests of Mars, likewise, saw the Emperor's extraordinary scientific knowledge and technological skill as proof that he was the Machine God (also known as the Omnissiah), who the creed of the Cult Mechanicus had promised would return one day to the Red Planet and offer the true way forward for humanity. Rediscovery of the Primarchs Even with access to the vast fleets of starships and military materiel that the Forges of Mars could churn out, the expansion outwards into the galaxy from Terra was slow, primarily due to a lack of the necessary manpower and skilled leadership. Without access to the Primarchs' unique genomes, the time required to create a Space Marine was far longer than ideal. The Emperor was also adamant that all the genetic material for new Astartes gene-seed must come directly from him, to keep the gene-seed organs pure and 100% effective, as mutation had a habit of setting in even at this early date in the Adeptus Astartes' existence. Only a short time after he had launched the great expedition to reunite Mankind that he called the "Great Crusade," the Emperor was reunited with one of his Primarchs after his Great Crusade Expeditionary Fleet reached the nearby Mining World of Cthonia during one of its first journeys through the Warp; this was Horus, the future Warmaster of the Imperial armies. Being the first Primarch rediscovered by the Emperor, the first of his beloved sons who had returned to him, Horus and the Emperor soon formed a truly unique bond of friendship and paternal love, saving one anothers' lives on many occasions. Horus was given command of the XVI Legion of Space Marines, the Luna Wolves, and he soon set the precedent for raising all future Astartes for his Legion from among the men of his former homeworld, in this case Cthonia. With the increased Space Marine production made possible by direct access to a Primarch's genome, the Great Crusade began picking up steam, with the Emperor's "Imperium of Man" bringing many new worlds into "Imperial Compliance" either through negotiation and diplomacy or outright conquest when all other methods failed. Each world was also introduced to the Imperial Truth, the Emperor's chosen philosophy and the foundation for Imperial culture, which was stridently atheistic and rejected all forms of human religion or spirituality as mere superstition to be replaced by the cold rationalism of scientific progress. Though the Emperor loathed war, he understood that if Mankind was to survive the rigours of a hostile universe it must stand united, even if that unification had to be forced in certain instances. After 30 years of successful Crusading, the Emperor discovered another of the Primarchs. Although Horus was pleased at the discovery of one of his brothers, he secretly hoped to always be the Emperor's favorite son, no matter how many of his brothers were rediscovered. Over time, all of the Primarchs were rediscovered by the various Expeditionary Fleets of the Great Crusade and given command of the Space Marine Legion for which their genetic code had been used as the foundation of that Legion's gene-seed. The Crusade also grew larger. With each new world brought into Imperial Compliance and made accepting of the Imperial Truth, its resources could be harnessed for the construction of ever more starships and the massive amounts of materiel needed to keep the entire massive enterprise moving forward. With the rediscovery of all of the Primarchs, the time required for Space Marine production was dramatically decreased; a new Astartes could be created in as little as a year at the height of the Great Crusade. This rapid creation process, however, would prove disastrous: mental defects and unique eccentricities began to creep into the ranks of the Astartes as the manpower needs of the Great Crusade called for larger and larger armies. Yet, by the early 31st Millennium, some 200 standard years after it had begun, the Great Crusade had reunited vast swathes of the galaxy under the leadership of the Emperor of Mankind, seemingly initiating a new Golden Age of progress and reason for the human race. Fractures in Loyalty As the Imperium grew and the Great Crusade fractured into hundreds of different Expeditionary Fleets that could be separate from one another for decades of relative time, the Primarchs and their Emperor began to grow distant from each other. The Night Lords and World Eaters Legions grew infamous for their ever-greater atrocities during the conquest of new worlds, the Thousand Sons' pursuit of knowledge transformed into the use of sorcery through the temptations secretly offered by Tzeentch, and the Word Bearers' fanatical religious beliefs in the Emperor's divinity led to a rift between them and the Emperor when he dramatically rejected their attempts at worship in light of the atheistic nature of the Imperial Truth he sought to impress on all the worlds of the Imperium. The Imperial Army, composed almost entirely of normal human soldiers (some Regiments such as the Geno Two-Five Chilliad were the products of selective breeding to produce more capable soldiers or officers), provided much-needed manpower for garrison and support duties for the planets brought into Imperial Compliance by the Crusade. Freed from garrison duties, the Space Marines who comprised the core of each Expeditionary Fleet could conquer yet more worlds in a shorter space of time. Many Astartes and Imperial Army soldiers began speaking only of their loyalty to the Primarch that they served, and not to their Emperor. Owing to the isolation between the Legions and the Emperor after the Ullanor Crusade when the Emperor returned to Terra and left the Great Crusade in the hands of his favoured son Horus as the new Imperial Warmaster, this growing breach between the military and the people of the Imperium as represented by the Emperor essentially went unnoticed back on Terra. Twilight of the Great Crusade After Horus' successful campaign to destroy the largest Ork WAAAGH! known in the history of the Imperium to that point at the world of Ullanor during what became known to later Imperial historians as the semi-legendary Ullanor Crusade, the Emperor declared it the greatest victory of the Imperium to date. Horus' reward was the title and position of Imperial Warmaster and with it the supreme command of all of the Imperium's armed forces, Space Marines and Imperial Army starships and troops alike. After doing so, the Emperor made it known that he was needed back on Terra, where he would undertake a secret project intended to open the next phase in human cultural evolution. What the Emperor intended was to make use of the ancient artefact known as the Golden Throne, an instrument of technology created before the Age of Strife that had been unearthed on Terra that acted as a powerful psionic augmentation device, to open the Eldar Webway to the use of humanity, allowing all the worlds of the Imperium to be instantaneously interconnected through the Webway in a way that would make travel by starship obsolescent. The creation of a human Webway was intended to be the Emperor's greatest gift to Mankind and usher in millennia of progress and peace once the Great Crusade was complete. Horus was not informed of the Emperor's plans on Terra, and felt deeply troubled by his father's sudden unwillingness to confide in him, once his closest confidante and bu his decision to retreat to Terra with the Great Crusade yet unfinished. To make matters worse, while some of his fellow Primarchs accepted his promotion, others, chiefly Angron, Night Haunter and Perturabo, openly begrudged Horus his new authority. There was also the widespread erroneous belief among the Astartes that the Emperor would disband or reduce the Space Marine Legions to the level of peacekeeping forces once the Great Crusade was completed. Horus resented his brothers' feelings and thought that while he was winning new worlds for the Imperium the Emperor was handing the Imperium he, his brothers and the Astartes had won to corrupt bureaucrats and Terran nobles who knew nothing of honour or sacrifice. These existing seeds of bitterness, jealousy and pain were all the Ruinous Powers of Chaos needed to sow the seeds of dissension in the Warmaster's mind. Events came to a head following Horus' wounding at the end of the Great Crusade during a battle on the moon of Davin against Nurgleite undead by the Chaos-tainted weapon known as the Kinebrach Anathame that had been wielded by the Nurgle-corrupted former Planetary Governor of Davin, Eugen Temba. Even Horus' superhuman immune system could not defeat the terrible Nurgle-created toxin that had laced the blade of the Anathame, and in their desperation to save his life, the Captains of the Luna Wolves gave in to the machinations of the Word Bearers Legion's First Chaplain Erebus and gave Horus into the keeping of the Chaos Sorcerers of the Temple of the Serpent Lodge on Davin. As part of their "healing" ritual, the Sorcerers sent Horus' mind into the Warp, where Erebus, acting as the agent of the Dark Gods, used a deceptive vision of the future of the Imperium where the Emperor was worshiped as a God to convince Horus, who was filled with jealousy at the sight of thousands of pilgrims worshiping in a grand cathdral dedicated to the Emperor, to replace his father as the master of the galaxy. When Horus awakened fully healed, he awoke already corrupted, ready in his terrible ambition to turn on his father and attempt to wrest control of the Imperium from the Emperor no matter the cost, unleashing the terrible civil war known as the Horus Heresy. In return for his allegiance to their cause, the Chaos Gods offered Horus the power of the Warp, cementing the corruption of his soul. Horus would never realise that the dark future of the Imperium that the Chaos Gods had shown him, where Mankind was oppressed by superstition, ignorance and constant war, would be caused by his actions and his betrayal of his father. The Heresy would end with the death of Horus, the exile of his 9 Traitor Legions into the Eye of Terror, and the quasi-death of the Emperor of Man following his internment within the Golden Throne, ironically the very instrument through which he had hoped to open the Webway and create vast new vistas of progress for Mankind. The Emperor's Mistake At first glance, the forging of the Imperium of Man and the Imperial Truth during the Great Crusade seems to be a great contradiction: why would the Emperor of Mankind, an immortal being who had been alive for millennia and who well knew about the existence of the Chaos Gods, daemons and all the other psychically-reactive entities of the Immaterium, promulgate a code of belief that only upheld reason and science? Particularly when the psychic power within the Warp generated by the faith of billions of people could be used to protect them from the influence of Chaos. The reason seems to be that the Emperor's entire purpose in initiating the Great Crusade and the creation of a galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man was to seek the destruction of Chaos once and for all. The Emperor, who had himself been responsible for the development of several of the major religions once prevalent on Old Earth, had dedicated his entire existence to the ultimate benefit of Mankind. Yet time and time again, he had seen the principles he had propounded in the form of religion become twisted by human nature, transforming a faith based on the tenets of love and respect for one another into bloody creeds of violence, repression, murder and holy war that actually strengthened the Chaos Gods. After the onset of the Age of Strife brought an end to humanity's previous interstellar Golden Age and savagery consumed human civilisation, the Emperor decided that his long policy of hiding his true nature from his fellow men as he sought to guide them towards a better future had failed. He needed to take a far more active role in shaping his species' future, so he created the persona of the Emperor and intended to use his own potent psychic abilities, intellect and extraordinary scientific knowledge to reunite the scattered human race, by force if necessary. The Emperor came to this harsh conclusion because he feared that unless all of Mankind was united, it would eventually be destroyed piecemeal by the hideous dangers lurking in the galaxy, including Chaos and the other alien races. By promulgating the Imperial Truth on every world inhabited by humanity in the galaxy, the Emperor ironically hoped to eventually create a psychic well of belief in reason and science so strong that the Chaos Gods, who thrived and grew stronger on Mankind's darker psychic emanations, would be fatally weakened. Of course, the Ruinous Powers were aware of the Emperor's intentions and they moved from the beginning to destroy this plan and actually make it work in their favour. They first corrupted several of the Primarchs almost at the moment of their birth when they were stolen from the Emperor's gene-laboratories beneath the Himalayan Mountains and scattered through the Warp across the galaxy. They next corrupted the Primarch Lorgar and used him as their instrument to corrupt Horus and eventually all of the Primarchs who turned against the Emperor and ended his dream of a united Imperium opening a new Golden Age of reason and progress for Mankind. In the end, the Emperor miscalculated, deeply underestimating Mankind's basic need to believe in something larger than itself beyond the stale confines of science and technology. Ironically, what ultimately presented the only hope for Mankind surviving the Age of the Imperium that unfolded after the end of the Horus Heresy was religious faith in the Emperor himself. Humanity's religious faith in the God-Emperor empowers his psychic form within the Warp, allowing him to combat the destructive influence of Chaos and providing his servants with the psychic power to defend themselves against the threats of daemons, aliens and heretics alike. Though the price for the survival of the Imperium has been incredibly high, a cost far greater than the Emperor hoped humanity would have to bear, a new version of the Imperial Truth has become predominant among the million worlds of Mankind, a truth that lies at the heart of the Imperial Creed: the Emperor protects. Expeditionary Fleets An Expeditionary Fleet was the basic military unit of the Great Crusade. At its peak in the early 31st Millennium, some 203 standard years after it began, there were 4,287 primary Expedition Fleets engaged upon the business of enforcing Imperial Compliance and extending the Imperial aegis across the galaxy as well as 60,000+ secondary deployment groups involved in regulating Compliance or Imperial occupations. A further 372 Expedition Fleets were regrouping or refitting in the Sol System or other Imperial hub star systems or resupplying as they awaited new orders. While all of the original Expeditionary Fleets had been assembled in Terran space by the Adeptus Mechanicus, by the height of the Great Crusade they had been dispersed throughout the Milky Way Galaxy to reunite all the human-settled colony worlds under the Emperor's rule to bring to fruition his dream of a united human race dominating the stars. The Expeditionary Fleets were given a broad remit to bring human-settled worlds into the Imperium by diplomacy if possible but by force if necessary, and to cleanse any xenos species from the galaxy who represented a threat to humanity. As almost all intelligent alien species encountered by Mankind had proved hostile, outright genocide was the usual expected remedy. The fleets were also tasked with the secondary mission of exploring the galactic wilderness following the terrible anarchy of the Age of Strife so that new frontiers could be opened for human settlement and resource extraction in formerly virgin regions of the galaxy. While the Emperor hoped that most human civilisations would willingly accept reunification under the Imperial aegis because of all the benefits interstellar unity offered, he knew that many human worlds would forcefully reject Imperial Compliance. As such, each Expeditionary Fleet was a potent military armada usually under the overall command of a high-ranking officer of the Imperial Army who bore the rank of Lord Commander and the expedition's fleet elements were commanded by an officer with the rank of Master of the Fleet. Additionally, each of the Emperor's Primarchs was given command of an unusually large Expeditionary Fleet, to which was attached the main body of their Space Marine Legion as well as substantial starship and Imperial Army assets. These Expeditionary Fleets, which were quite rare since the majority of the Great Crusade's fleets possessed no Astartes contingent at all, usually undertook the major thrusts into completely new areas of the galaxy. Smaller fleets with less combat capacity would then follow in a major fleet's wake, branching off to ensure Imperial Compliance on worlds that presented less human or xenos resistance than those faced by the fleets carrying Astartes complements. However, the Primarchs of several of the Legions were known at times to split off smaller units of Space Marines from their main fleets to accompany Expeditionary Fleets that were otherwise lacking in Space Marine support. In such situations, the ranking Space Marine officer served as the fleet's Lord Commander since Astartes always assumed command over normal troops in any military situation where they were present during the Great Crusade. What follows here is a list of the few Expeditionary Fleets of the Great Crusade that have been recovered from ancient Imperial records. 4th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Primarch Lion El'Jonson *Space Marine Complement: I Legion (Dark Angels) *Imperial Army Complement: Unknown The 4th Expeditionary Fleet was originally under the command of a much smaller contingent of Space Marines from the V Legion, the White Scars, and was commanded by a White Scars Captain (Khan) named Sheng Khan. 12th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Primarch Roboute Guilliman *Space Marine Complement: XIII Legion (Ultramarines) *Imperial Army Complement:Unknown 27th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander:' Unknown' *Space Marine Complement: XIX Legion (Raven Guard) *Imperial Army Complement:Unknown 28th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Primarch Fulgrim *Space Marine Complement: III Legion (Emperor's Children) *Imperial Army Complement: Archite Palatines The 28th Expeditionary Fleet was also the name of an expeditionary force during the Great Crusade commanded by the Primarch Magnus the Red and whose Astartes complement was filled by his XV Legion, the Thousand Sons. The records do not make clear whether this was the same 28th Expedition later commanded by Fulgrim or whether it was an entirely different unit with the same designation that was later transferred over to the Emperor's Children. 47th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander:' Primarch Lorgar' *Space Marine Complement: XVII Legion (Word Bearers) *Imperial Army Complement:' Unknown' 51st Expeditionary Fleet *Commander:' Warsmith Barabas Dantioch' *Space Marine Complement: 14th Grand Company of the IV Legion (Iron Warriors), flagship ''Benthos'' *Imperial Army Complement: Ninth-Ward Angeloi Adamantiphracts The 51st Expeditionary Fleet was responsible for the compliance of Lesser Damantyne and the construction of the mighty fortress, Schadenhold. Unknown to the Iron Warriors on Damantyne, the Horus Heresy had already begun. When Warsmith Krendl, the new Warsmith of the 14th Grand Company (who is a staunch loyalist of Horus) returns to the legion garrison world in order to recover his troops and materiel, he orders Warsmith Dantioch to stand down. He then informs him that his fortress would be commandeered as a resupply point for the Warmaster's armies. Warsmith Dantioch stays loyal to the Imperium and refuses to betray the Emperor. Warsmith Krendl informs Dantioch that his beloved fortress would be crushed in the name of the Warmaster. For the next 366 days, Warsmith Dantioch commanded his paltry force against the bulk of the 51st Expedition Fleet. When the siege was finally drawing to its inevitable conclusion, an Emperor-class Titan of the ''Legio Argentum'' was deployed against Shadenhold, but was eventually destroyed. As the fortress was about to fall, Dantioch teleported himself and a few other loyalist Iron Warriors with him aboard the traitor’s flagship in orbit above Damantyne. Using superb military strategy, Warsmith Dantioch and his men managed to commandeer the traitor’s vessel and set a course for Terra. Their goal; assist the Emperor with the fortification of the Imperial Palace against the encroachment of the Warmaster and his Forces of Chaos. Warsmith Dantioch’s ultimate fate is unknown. 52nd Expeditionary Fleet *Commander:' Primarch Ferrus Manus' *Space Marine Complement:' X Legion (Iron Hands)' *Imperial Army Complement: Unknown 63rd Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Warmaster and Primarch Horus *Space Marine Complement:' XVI Legion (Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus)' *Imperial Army Complement: Byzant Janizars The 63rd Expeditionary Fleet was one of the largest and most powerful deployed during the Great Crusade and it was the home fleet of Horus, the Warmaster of the Imperium and the supreme commander of the Great Crusade after the Emperor returned to Terra. The 63rd Expedition had the powerful Legio Mortis Titan Legion attached to it as well as the Horus' massive flagship, the Battle Barge Vengeful Spirit. 140th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander:' Unknown' *Space Marine Complement:' 3 Companies of the IX Legion (Blood Angels)' *Imperial Army Complement: Unknown Imperial Army Regiment (known to be 4,000 troops strong) The 140th Expedition's Space Marines were commanded by the Blood Angels Captain Khitas Frome. It is unknown if he also served as the Lord Commander of the entire expedition, though this would have been likely. These Blood Angels were lost in combat against the powerful arachnoid xenos called Megarachnids of the Death World dubbed Murder by the Luna Wolves after the 63rd Expedition arrived at the world to determine what had happened to Captain Frome and his Astartes. 203rd Expeditionary Fleet *Commander:' Primarch Angron' *Space Marine Complement:' XII Legion (World Eaters)' *Imperial Army Complement: Unknown The 203rd Expedition and the World Eaters fought alongside the Sons of Horus and their 63rd Expedition on the world of Aerius. 670th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Lord Commander Teng Namitjira *Space Marine Contingent:' None' *Imperial Army Complement:Geno 2-5 Chiliad, Zanzibari Hort, Crescent-Sind 6th Torrent, Outremar, Regnault Thorns The Legio Xerxes Titan Legion was attached to the service of the 670th Expedition. The Primarch Alpharius and a force from his XX Legion, the Alpha Legion, fought with the 670th Expedition during the tragic campaign to bring the world of Nurth to Imperial Compliance, but never became an official part of the 670th's order of battle. Lord Commander Namitjira remained in formal command during the operation, though of course he deferred to the Primarch's orders. 954th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Wolf Lord Bulveye *Space Marine Complement: The 13th Great Company of the VI Legion (Space Wolves) *Imperial Army Complement: Arcturan Dragoons The 954th Expedition was the official name given to the Space Wolves' 13th Company and their supporting Imperial Army units. This same Expeditionary Fleet would ultimately be lost in the Eye of Terror after being ordered during the Horus Heresy by their Primarch Leman Russ to hunt down the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion. This same fleet would not be seen again until 10,000 standard years later when they returned to realspace to aid the Imperium during the darkest hour of the 13th Black Crusade of 999.M41. 1301st Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Chapter Master Deumos of the Serrated Sun Chapter of the XVII Legion (Word Bearers); the Master of the Fleet was Baloc Torvus *Space Marine Complement: Serrated Sun Chapter of the XVII Legion (Word Bearers) *Imperial Army Complement: Unknown The 1301st Expeditionary Fleet was the Imperial expedition that undertook the Pilgrimage of Lorgar for the Word Bearers' Primarch in his quest to discover whether the Old Faith of Colchis and the existence of its Gods was true, thus confirming for him that the Imperial Truth was a lie and turning him against the Emperor. Lorgar was the first of the Primarchs to be corrupted by Chaos based on the information brought back from the survivors of the 1301 Expedition from their journey into the Eye of Terror itself. 2188th Expeditionary Fleet *Commander: Unknown *Space Marine Complement: Unknown *Imperial Army Complement: Unknown The 2188th Expedition disappeared under mysterious circumstances near the Word Bearers Legion's homeworld of Colchis. Sources *''Age of Darkness'' (Novel), 'The Iron Within' (Story) by Rob Sanders *''A Thousand Sons'' (Novel) by Graham MacNeill *''Codex: Space Marines'' (5th Edition) *''Descent of Angels'' (Novel) by Mitchel Scanlon *''Fulgrim'' (Novel) by Graham MacNeill *''Horus Rising'' (Novel) by Dan Abnett *''Legion'' (Novel) by Dan Abnett *''Tales of Heresy'' (Anthology), "Wolf at the Door," by Mike Lee *''The First Heretic'' (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden *''Warhammer 40,000: Compilation'', p. 20 *''Warhammer 40,000'' ''Rulebook ''(5th Edition), p. 102 Category:G Category: Imperium Category:Imperial Campaigns Category:History